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by Tony Cartalucci January 13, 2013 from LocalOrg Website
Aaron Swartz protesting SOPA.
In your standard dictatorship, activists
are brought out back and shot.
While superficially the United States may seem more progressive, a
dead activist bullied to death for his political views, is a dead
activist - whether it was a bullet in the back of the head by SS
officers, or a mountain of litigation dumped upon someone by the US
Department of Justice.
He was the director of Demand Progress, which pursued the following campaigns:
Clearly, Demand Progress is not just another faux-NGO working in tandem with special interests under the guise of "human rights," "freedom," and "democracy" to peddle further exploitation and expansion of the powers that be - but rather identified these special interests by name, and exposed both their agenda and the means by which they attempt to achieve it.
Swartz' death is a tragic one, and
compounded by the dismissive, almost celebratory atmosphere across
the corporate-media of the passing of a man they labeled a suspected
criminal.
He was a pragmatic, technical individual and proposed solutions that short-circuited the typical and ineffectual political infighting that drives most disingenuous or misguided causes. We all stand the potential of being targeted like Swartz if we allow these monopolies to continue dictating the destiny of human progress.
We are all Aaron Swartz - and must
realize his targeting and subsequent suicide is the manifestation of
the real danger these insidious monopolies pose to us.
But like Nazi Germany, anything can be
"outlawed" if it suits political and economic special interest. Are
we truly "criminals" for not respecting laws born of special
interests, detached from the will and best interests of the people?
No, we most certainly aren't.
Nothing was stolen, yet Swartz was
accused of "theft," facing 30 years in prison and a 1 million dollar
fine - this in a nation where rapists and murders can spend less
time in prison, and elected representatives involved in willfully
selling wars based on patently false pretenses walk free without
even the faintest prospect of facing justice.
The silence from so-called "human
rights" advocates over the treatment, and now death of Aaron Swartz
is deafening - exposing them yet again as another cog in the
machine.
Pragmatic, technical solutions must also
be explored and deployed at the grassroots to shatter these
corporate-financier monopolies at the very source of their power -
that is - our daily patronage and dependence on their goods and
services.
Laws born of special interests and flying in the face of the people's best interests must be exposed, condemned, and entirely ignored. Taking away a human being's freedom because they copied and shared a file is unconscionable - as unconscionable as imprisoning a human being because of their political, religious, or racial background.
We would ignore laws imposed upon our
society singling out blacks or Jews, but not laws criminalizing
sharing solely for the benefit of corporate special interests?
David
Darts, an artist, designer, and coder, describes a Pirate Box
as:
Under David's FAQ's regarding Pirate Boxes, a particularly useful question is answered:
For the media-industry to stop the
spread of local hardware solutions like Pirate Boxes, they would
have to literally be in every single community, inside every single
person's house, to prevent people from taking legally purchased or
freely available media, and sharing it - akin to publishers policing
the entire population to prevent readers from lending their friends
and family their copy of a particular book.
By encouraging local meetings where
PirateBoxes are used, the foundation for new local organizations and
institutions can be laid.
Even those that do, cannot, by themselves, effectively research, develop, and deploy such alternatives. By pooling our resources together in common spaces called "hackerspaces," we can.
Hackerspaces are not just for
technically talented individuals, but a place where anyone with the
inclination to learn can come and participate.
It will be in hackerspaces, and local institutions like them, that
a truly people-driven paradigm shift takes place - one of
pragmatism and progress, not endlessly broken political promises
from elected officials.
Conversely, for those who either don't
have a hackerspace nearby to join, or simply want to start their
own, see, "How
to Start a Hackerspace," for more information on where to begin.
Aaron Swartz was an exceptional proponent of Internet freedom and openness - but by all of us joining the ranks of this cause, we exponentially complicate the system's ability to target and destroy any one of us.
If your cause is just, and your means constructive and pragmatic, there isn't just "safety" in numbers, there is invincibility.
Read also "How the federal government killed Aaron Swartz".
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